The postmortem characteristics of Pima Indians of the Gila River Indian Community are investigated so that findings in subjects with and without diabetes mellitus can be correlated with studies in living subjects. Postmortem examinations are performed on members of the Gila River Indian Community whenever possible, regardless of whether the subjects have prior evidence of diabetes. Tissues are examined by light and electron microscopy and histology related to the clinical findings in the same subjects. The histology of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans is being studied in detail to describe the changes that take place in diabetes. The distribution of cell types varies considerably between different regions of the pancreas suggesting reginal variation in function.